FDA endorses tighter control for painkillers

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday recommended tighter controls on how doctors prescribe the most commonly used narcotic painkillers, changes expected to take place as early as next year.

The move, which represents a major policy shift, follows a decadelong debate over whether the widely abused drugs, which contain the narcotic hydrocodone, should be controlled as tightly as more powerful painkillers like OxyContin.

The drugs at issue contain a combination of hydrocodone and an over-the-counter painkiller such as acetaminophen or aspirin and are sold either as generics or under brand names such as Vicodin or Lortab. Doctors use the medications to treat pain from injuries, arthritis, dental extractions and other problems.

The change would reduce the number of refills patients could get before going back to see their doctor. Patients also would be required to take a prescription to a pharmacy, rather than have a doctor call it in.

Prescription drugs account for about three-quarters of all drug overdose deaths in the United States, with the number of deaths from narcotic painkillers, or opioids, quadrupling since 1999, according to federal data.

Drugs containing hydrocodone represent 70 percent of all opioid prescriptions, and the looser rules governing them, some experts say, has contributed to their abuse.

Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the agency's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said she expected the new regulations, if adopted, to go into effect in 2014.

The recommendation requires the approval of the Department of Health and Human Services and adoption by the Drug Enforcement Administration.